My little girl

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Dear LG,
You love water. Oceans, beaches, lakes, the swimming pool - you love 'em all and once you are in the water, there's no getting you to come out. After we moved here, you started going to the swimming pool every day. With a noodle to your aid and two floaty armbands, you would kick around madly and happily. Then, appa and I decided that given your love for water, it only made sense to teach you how to swim. As luck would have it, we found an amazing instructor who is so, so good with children.
You have amazed me with your almost natural instinct for the right things to do in water. Your instructor has to only show you something once and you get the hang of it. Most of the time, you don't even let Ms. K complete what she wants to say.....you jump in start doing it - that's how enthusiastic you are.
You are fearless in water, jumping into the deep end and swimming as if you've been doing it all your life. You've only taken four classes so far and you can already swim an entire lap, turning your head to the side and breathing as you swim; you can float on your back for almost an entire lap; you can tread water; jump into the deep end (9 feet) and make sure you stay afloat.
Great going, girl. I hope your love for water continues and that you always get to do what you love doing.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Am back to the country where this blog was born. The last few weeks have been hectic, what with packing up all our stuff in Mumbai, moving across continents and once again setting up home in the US of A.
The first thing that hit me on moving back is the silence. Having grown accustomed to the noise of the local train line running just behind our apartment on one side and a busy inter city highway on the other, the silence literally did ring in my ears for the first few days.
The new place is beautiful - lots of greenery and we even have wild rabbits running around on the property.
I had forgotten just how super-sized everything is in stores and spent some time looking for small quantities of groceries in the store before giving up on my search.
The little girl is excited about the new-ness of everything. I was worried about how she would spend her time until school re-opens, but she has already made friends and is off playing in the mornings and evenings, making me heave a huge sigh of relief because that was one of my major worries, what with her being used to a lot of out door play and a huge circle of friends in Mumbai.
Note to self : This blog should see some more action as I have more time on my hands now.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Isn't it ironic how people whom we dislike occupy more than 50% of our mind space? We constantly think about people who have hurt us and the hurt they have caused. Instead, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could focus on the blessings that life has to offer?

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The LG has been down with severe loose motions and vomiting for the last three days. In these three days, I have learned and tried out quite a few home remedies which I thought I would list out here :

Using a stone mortar and pestle, grind a small piece of nutmeg into a powder. Use your ingenuity if you don't have a mortar and pestle. A fine grater should do the trick, I think. Mix this well with a little bit of honey. Give this to your child up to three times a day.

Ginger extract - This is a very effective remedy that can be used by adults as well. The problem is, it is spicy and kids will not like it. Remove the skin from ginger and grind a large piece, with a little bit of water, in the blender to a smooth paste. Strain and keep aside. After a few minutes, remove only the clear part of the extract. Squeeze some lemon juice into it and drink up.

Kachina moru (boiled buttermilk) - Beat the buttermilk well. Add crushed garlic, crushed ginger, curry leaves, turmeric powder and asafoetida to it. Let it boil. Remove from heat and add in a little salt if you want. This can either be drunk as it is or mixed with rice and given.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Almost any Tambrahm (stands for Tamil Brahmin - includes Tamil Iyer, Kerala Iyer and any other I yer) do that you attend (Shastiabdapoorthy, Satabhishekam, Kalyanam, Poonal) will have one or more of these characters in attendance :

The enna-therinjudha(do you know me) mama : This mama/mami will pounce on you with the question - Enna therinjudho nokku (Do you recognize me?). You think, think, and think some more but hit a blank. Once you admit defeat with an apologetic smile, the mama/mami will proceed to enlighten you that onakku naalu vayassirukkarathe onna pathen - apram ippo than pakkaren. appo eppidi theriyum onakku? ( I saw you when you were four years old. After that, I am seeing you only now. How will you recognize me?)

The relationship-identifier mama/mami - This mama will start off by asking you about your family members. Who is your father? mother? grandfather? grandmother? grandmother's grandmother? And then, suddenly, he will spring on you the information that your grandmother's cousin's daughter-in-laws's chithi's son is his daughter's sister-in-law's mami's neighbour. Onakku theriyumo avala ? Inga thaan dombivili-la irukka. (Do you know them? They live here in Dombivili) Ayyo.....aala vidungo mama.....

The America mama/mami - This type can be found discussing the freaky weather in the US. While polishing off piping hot palada pradhaman from the banana leaf in front of them, they hold informative discussions on how the weather in California is minus 23 degrees. Appappa.......thanga mudiyadha cold-pa. (Unbearable cold)

Family planning mami (Note : this is always a mami - never a mama) - Enna di ma? Oru kozhanthai poruma? Vayassakarathukku minnadi innunna pethukko.......intha kaalathila ellam ippadi thaan....aana nee appidiyellam panniyudathe. Ithoda effect ellam ippo theriyadhu. Nalakku vayassanapram thaan theriyum. (What is this? Is one child enough? Have another one before you become too old. These days everybody is like this.....but you don't do that. You will not understand the effects of all this now.....you will know only after you become older)

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Today I added too much salt in the curry and found that one of the tips I remembered reading ages ago actually helped. All that you have to do to bring down the salt level is :
Wash and peel a potato. Cut it into two and add the two halves to the curry. Let it boil for about 10 minutes and then remove the potato halves.
This really does work. The potato ends up absorbing a large amount of salt.
Isn't that a handy tip to know?